Another View: 5 common-sense steps on gun control

As Congress starts hearings today on gun violence, even the most ardent supporters of a new ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines concede they face an uphill battle. That doesn't make the ban a lost cause, or an unworthy one, in the wake of last month's school massacre in Newtown, Conn.

But the assault-weapons fight shouldn't get in the way of other common-sense, common-ground ways to curb gun deaths. Here are five that command bipartisan support and could make a significant difference without any injury to the rights of law-abiding gun owners:

1.Background checks. The nation's otherwise effective background check system has a critical loophole: The instant checks must occur only when a gun is purchased from a federally licensed firearms dealer. Buyers who can't pass a check - such as felons or people with a history of mental illness, substance abuse or domestic violence - can buy weapons from private sellers who aren't required to run a check. These private transactions are a key way that criminals get guns. The White House has proposed mandatory background checks for all purchases, with logical exceptions such as gun transfers between family members. National Rifle Association leaders are deliberately misrepresenting the idea and claiming it's a Trojan Horse for gun taxation and confiscation. Yet a poll last summer showed 74% of NRA members in favor of expanding background checks. And a CBS News/New York Times poll this month showed 92% support for background checks on all potential gun buyers.

2.Mental health database. Virginia officials were appropriately shamed when they learned that the student gunman who killed 32 people at Virginia Tech in 2007 had legally bought his two handguns after breezing through background checks - despite being so obviously disturbed that a judge had ordered him to get mental health treatment. Ordinarily, that sort of mental history would disqualify someone from buying a gun, but Virginia had done such a slipshod job of passing along mental health records that the shooter's history never turned up in two background checks. Virginia has since cleaned up its act, but a shocking number of other states have not. As of late last year, one-third of states had reported fewer than one mental health record for every 100,000 residents. Rhode Island had failed to report any. Five states - Alaska, Hawaii, Massachusetts, North Dakota and Pennsylvania - had each reported only one. States offer numerous excuses for their inaction, but the real reasons boil down to ineptitude or indifference. That's shameful.

3.Straw purchases. The deranged shooter in upstate New York who killed two firefighters last month couldn't legally buy weapons himself; he had served prison time for killing his grandmother with a hammer. Prosecutors say he got a neighbor who could pass a background check to go to the gun store with him and buy the assault rifle and shotgun he later used in the attack. Still other "straw buyers" purchase numerous weapons at gun stores and then sell them at a handsome markup to people who can't legally buy weapons themselves. Quirks in the law make this kind of blatant gun trafficking hard to prove and hard to prosecute. Prosecutors are often relegated to trying to convict a straw buyer of a paperwork violation, which can carry minimal prison time. In a welcome sign of bipartisanship, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., are co-sponsoring a proposal that among other things would make straw purchasing a federal crime with punishment of up to 20 years in prison, with up to an additional 15 years for conspiracy and organizing a ring of straw buyers.

4.Rogue gun dealers. The great majority of federally licensed gun dealers are scrupulously law abiding, but a tiny minority flagrantly flout the law: They "lose" guns that they then sell off the books to criminals, abet obvious straw purchasers and otherwise abuse their federal licenses to profit by funneling firearms to people who will pay serious money as long as there's no background check. The number of such bad actors is small and easy to identify: A study by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATF) showed that 1.2% of gun dealers accounted for 57% of guns traced to crimes. This suggests that a big part of the gun problem can be addressed by cracking down on these rogue dealers. That's easier said than done. In Milwaukee, for example, the BATF has been pursuing one dealer for years. According to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which is co-counsel in lawsuits on behalf of four Milwaukee police officers shot with guns that the dealer allegedly sold illegally, the business has thrived since 1987 despite numerous attempts to shut it down. In 1998, 2000 and 2005, the dealer - which has changed names several times - led the nation's gun shops in selling guns traced to crimes. Current laws hobble the BATF and deliberately make it difficult to restrain rogue dealers. That could and should change.

5.Public responsibility. One of the least controversial but potentially most effective ways to cut gun violence could be to encourage the owners of the nation's roughly 300 million guns to take personal responsibility for keeping them safe. The NRA emphasizes safe and responsible gun handling, and a mostly overlooked part of the Obama administration's plan is to start a "national responsible gun ownership campaign" to encourage gun owners to secure their guns. Many do that, by using trigger locks or storing firearms in gun safes. But too many do not, and the results can be disastrous.

If Nancy Lanza had locked her Bushmaster rifle in a gun safe, for example, her son Adam might never have managed to kill her with it, then carry it to Sandy Hook Elementary School. And 26 first-graders and educators might still be alive.

---USA Today

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Another View: 5 common-sense steps on gun control

As Congress starts hearings today on gun violence, even the most ardent supporters of a new ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines concede they face an uphill battle. That doesn't make